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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26414290">Teeth</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lozza/pseuds/Lozza'>Lozza</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>MacGyver (TV 2016)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Werewolf, Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Hurt Jack Dalton (MacGyver TV 2016), Implied/Referenced Torture, Kidnapping</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 12:41:20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>7,273</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26414290</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lozza/pseuds/Lozza</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Murdoc thinks he knows everything about Jack Dalton, which wasn’t much. Just a gun-toting bodyguard, right?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>33</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Teeth</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Jack woke with a start but tried not to show it. He was uncomfortable, his head ached, there was a burning pain in his side and his senses were telling him a) he wasn’t alone and b) he didn’t like it. He took a quick inventory, making sure he didn’t move, and tried to take in as much as he could before he showed his hand. <br/>He was slumped sort of upright, in a chair, and, from the strain in his arms and shoulders, his wrists cuffed together behind him. But as he very slowly moved his wrists, he found they weren’t attached to the chair and he had some movement. Amateurs. </p>
<p>Memories were coming back to him now, that he and Mac were on another job that had obviously gone wrong. As per usual it seemed recently. He didn’t need to concentrate long to find his partner, he could hear the kid’s dulcet tones nearby, and opened his eyes a little so he could see through his eyelashes. </p>
<p>Mac was in front of him, opposite him, probably in the same sort of position: in a chair, wrists cuffed behind him. He looked okay, a bit dirty and battered, a bruise forming on his face, but he was compos mentis at least, he was certainly being vocal anyway. “..do you think you can get out of this?” he was demanding of someone out of Jack’s eye line, towards his right. “You know they’ll come after us.”</p>
<p>“Who? Phoenix? They’ll deny all knowledge of you two here, you know this.” a voice too close to Jack for comfort. Murdoc, fucking psychopath. Typical, on a job, far from safety, and he turns up. “And they have no idea where you are, so I’ve got all the time in the world.” With that Jack felt something hard, like a gun muzzle, poke him in the side none too gently, but let his body go with it, he wasn’t ready just yet. “How long is he going to be out?” the other guy asked curiously.</p>
<p>“You shot him!” Mac snapped, which told Jack what the burning pain in his side was. “What do you expect?”</p>
<p>“I was aiming at you,” Murdoc mused, his voice almost in Jack’s ear. the agent could feel him so close to his right side it took virtually all he could do to not react to him. “He always gets in the way.”</p>
<p>That’s my job, asshole, the man in question sneered at him mentally, if Mac would let me. He concentrated on measuring his breathing, acting as if he was still unconscious, he’d had practice at that but it was still nerve wracking, Murdoc was so close it was … disconcerting. But eventually the man moved away, he could hear his footsteps as he walked over to Mac, and see him vaguely as he walked into his own eye line. </p>
<p>Mac glared up at the other guy, still defiant, and Jack took the opportunity to feel the cuffs around his wrists with his fingertips. They were strong, not the usual weak law enforcement ones, and he couldn’t feel a lock either, so picking it was out of the question. They were also tight around his wrists, no space to move around, almost as if Murdoc was expecting them both to try something, that he knew them somewhat. If he wasn’t trying to act asleep Jack would have smiled to himself, there was still plenty about him that Murdoc didn’t know. </p>
<p>So he waited and listened in to what the other two were saying, winced at what they were saying about Jill, at least Murdoc seemed to think she had died in the crash he had caused, not that they were in time to save her. He seemed to be gloating about it, monologuing in front of Mac, his back to Jack, which gave him time to find out about the rest of him. </p>
<p>It was weird, the agent thought as he went though the rest of him, Murdoc didn’t know all about them but he knew enough to know they were both quite adept at rescuing themselves, so why had he only cuffed their wrists and not to the chair, and not their feet either? It was like he was taunting them, daring them to try and escape. Jack was going to take him up on that dare, but not before he gathered some more information. </p>
<p>So he took what information he could from their surroundings and what Murdoc was saying, which was the usual crap about how much better he was than them, how much more clever he was, what he was going to do to them, after he had gone through the Phoenix first. Blah blah blah. Jack just hoped he’d shut up sometime soon and go away so he could look up and make sure Mac really was okay before he formulated his plan. </p>
<p>Thankfully after what seemed hours, but was probably only about ten minutes, Murdoc finally shut up and with a final nudge on Jack’s shoulder he left the area. The door must have been heavy, it creaked loudly when it was closed, and the agent heard a lock and then another that sounded like a padlock that locked them both in. He stayed still for a few more moments, listening intently to make sure they were actually alone before he opened his eyes fully and straightened up. “Thank fuck, I thought he was never going to leave,” he said and circled his neck to try and relieve tense muscles. </p>
<p>Mac, a relieved expression on his face, nodded. “Me neither,” he agreed and studied him for a few moments. “Are you okay?” he asked him. “Don’t bullshit me either.” </p>
<p>Jack, who was going to do just that, groaned. “It’s not a through and through,” he told him after some silence. “But it’s not silver either, which is a good thing I guess.”</p>
<p>“I guess,” Mac acquiesced. “What about your head? They hit you hard. Seeing double? Nausea?”</p>
<p>Jack blinked at him. “No, just the one of you, no nausea either. Just pain,” he explained. “What about you? Did they hurt you? And can you stand up?”</p>
<p>“I’m fine,” Mac assured him and stood, showing him that he was also not affixed to the chair. “Just cuffed.” He walked over and crouched beside his partner, checking out the gunshot wound in his side. He couldn’t see much, and with his hands out of action he couldn’t do much either, but at least the small pool of blood on the floor beside Jack hadn’t gotten any bigger. “I thought…” he began and looked up at him, before shaking his head. </p>
<p>Jack knew him well enough to know what the kid was thinking. “I’m still here,” he assured him. “Can’t get rid of me that easily. Now, tell me what’s going on. Where are we, Kid? And why hasn’t he done anything other than handcuffs?” </p>
<p>Mac huffed and stood again, then turned round and showed his partner the odd shaped cuffs. “They’re not just ordinary ones, he’s been telling me how strong they are,” he explained before turning back again. “What do you remember?” he asked and then walked away, probably towards the door behind the older agent.</p>
<p>Jack tried to move around so he could at least study their surroundings as well but he couldn’t twist too much with the hole in his side and his wrists shackled. “We got the info to Riley, then we were trying to get to the exfil,” he said, frowning. “Then I got hit and your friendly stalker psychopath turned up. Then I woke up here. What did I miss?” </p>
<p>Mac sighed and tried to look out of the very small window he’d found high in the wall of their cell but with not much success, he really needed his hands. “You got shot,” he explained grimly as he moved further round, to see if there was anything they could use. “When you were on the ground about six guys turned up. They were all armed and there wasn’t much I could do.” He paused for a moment, trying to shake it off. “They weren’t particularly gentle with you, threw us in a the back of a truck, then brought us here.” </p>
<p>Jack turned to see him. “Not your fault, Mac,” he assured him. “What were you supposed to do? Fight them all off?”</p>
<p>Mac turned and faced him. “You would have tried.”</p>
<p>“Yeah,” the other guy scoffed. “And failed. Probably got killed doing it. At least we’re both alive, and in a position to do something about it. Did you get any details of where we are?” he asked him, trying to distract him. “What sort of building is it? Did you see how many more people?” </p>
<p>Mac huffed. “It’s a warehouse, I think we’re in the basement.” he explained. “I saw a lot of people, it seems this one is in use, not like all the other places we’ve been stashed in before.”</p>
<p>Jack grinned at him, knowing what he meant. “There does seem to be a lot of abandoned warehouses around,” he agreed. </p>
<p>“And we do manage to find them,” Mac agreed. He spotted what he could use while he was talking and walked over to a pile of stuff in the corner. “Can you move your hands?” he asked as he toed a pile of rusting metal for something he could use.</p>
<p>“Yeah, a bit,” Jack told him, and concentrated. It was harder for him to do a partial when he had new metal in him, he’d lost some blood, he felt drained, but he could also feel his other physiology making up for it. He took a couple of breaths and forced the change, ground his elongated teeth against the sharp pain, and clenched his fists. The cuffs, even though they were reinforced, weren’t strong enough and split, he pulled his wrists apart and sighed in relief when moved his hands into his lap. It eased the ache in his shoulders and let him hunch over himself for a moment before he tried to check his own wound. </p>
<p>Mac walked over to him and shook his head but made sure Jack wasn’t looking at him when he did it. “You didn’t just do that,” he complained and frowned when his partner didn’t look up at him. “Jack?” </p>
<p>“Just need a moment,” his friend answered, breathing heavily. Mac waited him out, he’d seen him in pain before, heard him suffer for it, so he gave him the moment he needed. Jack looked up eventually and shook himself. “Turn round, I’ll break them for you. Okay?”</p>
<p>Mac sighed and did what he was told. Normally he wouldn’t let his friend exert himself any more when he was injured but he couldn’t see any way out of this without his hands. If anything he needed to get that slug out of his side and them both somewhere safe where Jack could rest up before they attempted to make their exfil again. He also knew Jack was stubborn enough to make sure Mac himself was okay and safe before he was, so he let him use his other strength to pull apart the cuffs. Then he turned back and crouched beside him when Jack groaned quickly and folded over again in pain. “Jack?”  </p>
<p>Jack forced himself to sit up again, mainly to stop that worried sound in his partner’s voice. “I’m okay, I’m okay,” he tried to assure him. “It’s just difficult doing a half when I’ve got this slug in me.” </p>
<p>Mac nodded and gently pulled the remnants of his friend’s shirt away from the wound to see what he could do, if anything. It was a nasty hole, deep, oozing blood, a few inches in from his side, and when the younger agent glanced around him he noted with a wince it wasn’t a through and through. Which meant the slug was rattling around inside, causing more damage with every move. </p>
<p>“We need to get out of here,” he said, mainly to himself, and stood up again. “There’s not much I can do here with nothing,” he admitted, looking around them again in frustration. </p>
<p>Jack looked up at him and noted the look on his face, the way he was chewing his lip, how he was clenching and unclenching his fists. “Changing’s going to be a bitch,” he murmured to himself but then shook himself. He couldn’t let Murdoc get close to his partner, that slime ball looked at him far too intently for Jack’s well being, let alone Mac’s. It would hurt, but making sure Mac got out of here before that asshole got his hands on him was worth it. He took a few deep breaths and then sat up straight. “Guatemala?” he queried. </p>
<p>Mac turned to face him with a glare on his face. ‘You’re kidding, right?” he demanded. “You were in hospital for weeks after that. You’re gonna be down for weeks already, you want to do that too?”</p>
<p>Jack shook his head. “It got you out, it’ll be worth it.”</p>
<p>“Jack!” Mac snapped at him and stepped towards him again. “Don’t do that. I hate it when you do that!” </p>
<p>The other agent knew exactly what he meant. “What?” he said with a frown. “Do what?”</p>
<p>“You’re not an idiot, stop acting like one,” Mac retorted and crouched in front of him again, this time laying his hands on each of his partner’s knees. “You know damn well what I mean. I’m no more important than you are. I hate that mile wide protective streak doesn’t cover yourself too.” </p>
<p>Jack looked down at him and shook his head. “You’re worth it,” he told him simply and covered one of Mac’s hands with his own. “Listen, I got bitten by a big, black dog that gave me some different talents I can use,” he told him, something Mac already knew about. “I’m going to use it to get you out of here. If I get out of here too, then that’s a bonus.” </p>
<p>Mac shook his head. “There’s another way, it might kill you.”</p>
<p>Jack leant forward and gripped Mac’s hand. “I am not going to let that guy get his ugly hands on you.” he told him firmly, emphasising every word with a squeeze of his hand. “You gotta understand that. He’s a psychopath, you know this. You really think I’m going to sit here and watch when I can do something about it?” </p>
<p>Mac shook his head. “But this?”</p>
<p>Jack was going to say something else, but they both heard the unmistakeable noise of people carrying something or some things down towards their cell. They looked at each other and Jack squeezed his hand again before letting him go. “Sit,” he told him quickly, quietly. “And trust me.” </p>
<p>Mac stood and took the three steps back so he could get back on his chair. “I do trust you, Jack,” he assured him as he mirrored his partner and moved his hands back behind his back. “I still don’t like it though.” This time his voice was louder, so his partner knew what he was going to do, and joined in. </p>
<p>“Don’t care,” Jack responded. He held his hands together behind his back and hoped whoever was opening the door now wasn’t going to look at them too closely. “I’m telling you, Man, Die Hard 4.0 is a hell of a lot better than Jason Bourne.” </p>
<p>Mac, watching the door opening behind him, snorted with surprised laughter, that was not what he had expected the other guy to say. “Right,” he said drily. “And next you’re going to tell me Armageddon is better than Deep Impact.” </p>
<p>Murdoc walked in the room, the sly smile on his face making Mac’s skin crawl, and even worse, the items the three men who followed him in were carrying scared him. One had a metal folded table that he placed to one side of them, in full view of both he and Jack, another one carried a large vehicle battery and the other carried what looked like a large metal tool box. They dumped both on the table and stepped back, and Murdoc took his time in opening the box and selecting something from the top layer. He stood there, staring at it for a few long moments, making Mac nervous, but then, before either of them could react, the psychopath turned on his heel and reached out towards Jack. </p>
<p>Who managed to dodge backwards just enough to avoid his throat being slashed by a wickedly sharp scalpel. </p>
<p>“Jack!” Mac shouted in alarm. </p>
<p>Murdoc hissed a curse and stepped towards his intended victim, scalpel held tightly in his hand, ready to use. “I don’t need you, Dalton,” he snapped at him. <br/>Jack grinned at him, showing all his teeth. Murdoc stumbled over his own feet, staring in shock as those canines grew in length and width in front of his eyes. Jack laughed and stood, the noise turning into a deep growl as he changed, not all the way, but enough. His nails formed razor-sharp claws, his nose, mouth and chin into a muzzle, his hair grew and his eyes flashed yellow, all in the space of taking a step towards the scalpel-holding bad guy in front of them. With a simple swipe of his claws the scalpel went flying off to one side, hitting the wall of the basement with a clatter. Murdoc yelped at the force of the unexpected blow, stared at his appendage, and it took a few moments for the pain to register. His hand, what was left of it, was a mangled mess, bone-deep claw marks already filling with blood, at least a couple of fingers suddenly missing. It was his scream of agony that made the other three people jump in shock. </p>
<p>Mac jumped up to his feet as Jack shoved Murdoc, already collapsing on weak knees, against the far wall and turned to face the shocked henchmen. He growled, and one stepped back against the wall, hands in the air, staring at the half-wolf half-man advancing on him. The other grabbed at the gun in his waistband, but had to stop when Jack grabbed him round his neck with a large hand. “You want to die?” he snarled at him, his voice barely recognisable as Jack Dalton’s Texan twang. </p>
<p>The guy stared at his yellowed eyes for a few moments, trying to breathe, then dropped the gun. “No,” he said quietly, hoarsely. </p>
<p>Jack nodded and dropped him. “Good decision,” he approved. He stepped back and let Mac in, but still within arms reach in case either of them had a change of heart. Mac quickly tied them both to each other, making sure neither could get out of it, and patted them both down for any other weapons. He shoved a gun at Jack who checked it, put the other he found in one of his own pockets, and grabbed the knife the sensible one of the two had in his boot with a nod and quiet “Thanks”.</p>
<p>He then stood for a moment over Murdoc whose scream had reduced to quiet whimpers, his hand pressed to his chest, and shook his head. “You’re not worth the effort,” he told him, and turned away to his partner. “Ready to go?” </p>
<p>Jack nodded. He changed back, but only enough to reduce the length of his muzzle, keeping his claws and teeth as they were. “As I’ll ever be,” he agreed. He headed to the door and indicated that Mac should stay behind him, then opened it slowly, just enough that he could look out of it. The corridor it opened out onto was empty and he turned back to Mac. “Did you find a key for this?” he asked quietly. </p>
<p>Mac nodded and showed him, and he slipped out, followed by his partner. The younger man shut the door behind them and quickly locked it, and then moved to slightly behind Jack and tapped his shoulder to let him know he was ready to go. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Creeping through a warehouse filled with people who would try and kill them if they spotted them was almost second nature now. The pair of them worked in tandem, Jack making sure they weren’t being stalked, that it was clear to the sides and ahead, while Mac gathered some items he could use if required and made sure they weren’t going to be attacked from behind. It had served them well over the years of their partnership, and it worked well now. Jack stopped at the end of the corridor, holding his gun free arm behind to make sure Mac didn’t walk out, and ducked his head round the corner to make sure it was clear. There was only one way to go, right and up the stairs at the end, a perfect murder hole, and both were tense. “Stay behind me,” Jack hissed as they got to the other closed door. “Get cover if I have to change.”</p>
<p>“Jack…” Mac tried to caution but they were at the door. Jack did the same, opened it very slowly, only enough to look out again. </p>
<p>He ducked back quickly with a curse, handed the gun back to his partner and started to pull his belt. “There’s too many,” he told him quickly, kicking his shoes off at the same time. “I’m going to create a diversion, there’s enough cover for you hide.”</p>
<p>Mac shook his head. “I’m not going to let you do that,” he told him and grabbed his hand. “I’ve got a few things, just wait. We can both get out of here.”</p>
<p>Jack stared at him for a few moments and nodded. “Okay,” he agreed finally. “What do you need?”</p>
<p>“I need to see,” Mac told him and swapped places with him so he could see out and take note of what had spooked his partner. </p>
<p>They were in a warehouse, as he had thought, it seemed to be working, with some metal containers to the left of the large space, close enough for cover if they were quick. Some odd machinery a bit further towards the two huge doors that were open at the far end. But between there and here, he spotted about two dozen people, virtually all of them armed, and about six of them seemed to be patrolling only a few metres from the door they were hiding behind. </p>
<p>He ducked back quickly before he was spotted but left the door open a crack, and rummaged in his pockets for the items he had been gathering. He’d picked up the scalpel Murdoc had tried to kill Jack with, and now used it to pry open the rusted old light fitting he’d found on their way out. “Give me a bullet,” he asked his friend, who frowned at him but quickly released the magazine of the confiscated gun and flipped a slug out, handing it over. “Thanks,” Mac said with a grim smile as he took it. He used the scalpel to open the slug and tipped the gun power into the inner workings of the switch, then cut a couple of wires and flipped the switch. </p>
<p>“What’s that going to do?” Jack asked him quietly as he made his way to the door. </p>
<p>Mac looked at him. “Hopefully it’s going to make another distraction, letting us get out of here.” he told him. “Change, and we’ll go one way and this’ll go the other. Okay?” </p>
<p>Jack studied him again for a few moments before he nodded. “You know I’m coming back to find you if you don’t stick close,” he warned him as he carried on stripping. “You know that.” </p>
<p>“Right back at you,” Mac assured him, and looked back through the gap as his partner stepped out of his shorts and into his other form. </p>
<p>Jack had told him the change was painless, since he had spent a lot of time doing it he didn’t need to concentrate on it any more, but it was still something his friend didn’t want to watch. The noise was horrendous, like bones breaking and reforming to something else, which was one reason why Jack didn’t like doing it in his vicinity if he could help it. The change was quick, and when he was done Jack pressed his muzzle into Mac’s hand to let him know. </p>
<p>The other guy looked at him with a relieved little smile. Jack made a large wolf, tall, long and heavily muscled, top of his back level with Mac’s hip, all grey and black fur. “Okay?” he asked, and laid his free hand on his friend’s shoulder when the wolf huffed at him. </p>
<p>Mac looked out of the gap again and waited for the people to turn away from them before he opened the door again, but only enough for himself and his wolf to slip out. They both quickly slunk over to the next cover, a pile of wooden crates conveniently placed between them and the metal ones a bit further to the left. <br/>Luckily they weren’t spotted, but neither believed that their luck was going to hold, they needed better cover, quickly. </p>
<p>Jack butted Mac’s arm with his muzzle and looked pointedly at the line of metal containers not too far away. The space was big enough to hide Mac, but getting there wasn’t going to work. Unless… “No!” Mac hissed at his partner, annoyed. “I know what you’re thinking, I’m not going to let you be the distraction!” </p>
<p>Jack pushed him again. He could smell better in this form, and hear, and he was using both of those senses to figure out the guards were getting closer. He had to get Mac to safety, it was more than his job, so he shoved him again, hard enough to make him stumble. Then, despite his partner’s objections, he leapt out the other side of the crate and into the sight lines of the guards. </p>
<p>Mac swore as his best friend put himself in danger again, to save his ass. But whatever Jack was doing worked, he could hear shouts of alarm, then gun shots, and ducked out momentarily to see what was going on. Jack was leading them away, his huge wolf form causing the right distraction. He was leaping over, around and under crates, machinery and people in what those people thought was random, but Mac knew better. He was leading them all away from the left, from the corridor he had made for Mac to escape. </p>
<p>With another curse the younger agent knew he had to move, if he stayed where he was he was only going to put himself and Jack in more danger, so he waited only a moment until no-one was looking in his direction and ran. </p>
<p>Shouts of alarm turned to screams as someone was stupid enough not to get out of the way, followed by more gun shots, but none were towards Mac. He found enough space between the wall of the warehouse and the wall of containers to sprint towards the door, listening intently for any sign he was spotted or the Jack had been caught. Or worse. </p>
<p>He got to the end of his row, within spitting distance of the open door, a Jeep, and a way out, but no Jack. He was not going to leave him here, whatever his partner would say on the matter, and he quickly ducked out to find him. For a few moments he couldn’t spot anything, no people, no wolf, just plenty of noise back the way he had come. </p>
<p>Then, a noise he hated to hear:</p>
<p>A shot. <br/>Then a yelp.<br/>Shit. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>He slapped his little device on the side of the nearest containers and grabbed the knife he had stolen. He smacked the pommel hard against the device, then ducked out of the way. It was not a lot more than a flash bang, but noisy enough, especially on something large, hollow and metal. It was enough to get some attention. He didn’t wait for whoever was coming, he ran full tilt out of the building towards the vehicle he could see, and almost sobbed in relief when he found it unlocked. He dove in it, and it took a matter of moments to hot wire into life. </p>
<p>Jack, and everyone else, probably thought he was going to use it to get out of the way, out of the complex, but instead he floored the accelerator and drove it straight back into the building. His device had brought people towards him, they were shocked to see one of their own vehicles being driven at them at speed. Most dove out of the way, only one stood her ground and started to shoot at him, only to be knocked to the floor. Jack, still in wolf form, appeared from seemingly nowhere, running towards him as fast as he could. Rather than dodge around the woman, he leapt at her, his weight knocking her to the ground. As she fell forward he used her as a springboard and leapt towards the vehicle. </p>
<p>Mac stepped on the brakes, yanked the steering wheel towards Jack, and reached behind him to open the rear door. He only waited for his partner to leap into the Jeep before he stamped on the accelerator again and drove back out the way they had come. “Jack!” he yelled as he didn’t waste any time in getting away from the warehouse. He was answered by a rough bark, and a paw that reached through the gap in the seats to pat his own on the gear stick, changing to somewhat human at the same time. </p>
<p>“I’m here,” his partner growled at him, but he didn’t climb over like he normally would have. Instead he pulled his hand back, leant over enough to reach the still open door handle and shut it firmly, and just curled up as much as he could on the back seat. </p>
<p>Mac took that as bad news, he kept looking into the rear view to see if his partner was bleeding out, but Jack was beneath his eye line. And: “Just drive, Mac,” the man himself grumbled. “I’ll live.” The younger guy wasn’t reassured, Jack had been known to tell everyone he was fine when he was bleeding out, but he did the only thing he could. And drove towards the exfil. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Doctor Sandy Lloyd thought joining a foundation would mean research, training, another PHD, not waiting in a troop carrier at an airport in a country she never thought she’d ever be, with another group of people all looking nervously at watches, clocks, out of the open door, just waiting for 2 other people to turn up. More often than not those two were followed by others who didn’t want them to leave, which was why the engines were idling and the pilots would react at a moment’s notice to get them in the air as soon as the pair were on board. Until then there was just waiting, and the team around her coped with it in different ways. She was thinking of basing her next research project on it. A couple of the other medics were playing cards nearby, one of the military protection team was meticulously cleaning her guns a few seats away, and the other two were sitting together, one reading, the other one seemingly doing a Sudoko puzzle. The aircrew were in the cockpit, she could hear them chatting to themselves, but she knew they were all ready to go at a moment’s notice. </p>
<p>Like now.</p>
<p>“Heads up!” the radio operator from the cockpit shouted. “Two coming in hot! Five minutes out. One injured, at least two GSWs. Both under fire.” She paused and pressed her headset closer to her ear. “They’re being chased by two vehicles, four up in each.” </p>
<p>Five minutes… Sandy stood and looked over at her team, ready to shout out orders as all of the people in the plane jumped up, dropping whatever they were doing. She didn’t need to, her team were already moving, and she could feel and hear the engines fire up. </p>
<p>The tannoy crackled into life, sending the voice of the captain throughout the plane. “Keep away from the tail, agents will be driving straight into the cargo area,” she stated. “We’ll be taking off moments later.”</p>
<p>Which told Sandy that the agents were in real trouble. She rushed over to the med bay and started checking the items the staff had pulled out and were getting ready, and made busy work for herself while they waited. </p>
<p>Not for long though, she had a great view of the cargo area of the plane, and could hear the jeep coming closer, along with the staccato trademark sounds of gunfire that followed them. As soon as the jeep’s back wheels were on the tail gate, it was being raised, and the pilots had gunned the engines. The driver stopped the small vehicle as far inside the plane as possible, against the webbing in place for just this sort of fast getaway, and killed the engine. He jumped out and looked about him desperately for some help. “Medics!” he shouted and pulled open the back door of the vehicle. </p>
<p>Sandy and her team were there before he could do much more, and she pulled him out of the way and let her people in the space. With no hint of surprise the more experienced two people on the team gently lifted the huge dog that was curled up on the back seat onto the gurney. Sandy had seen this only a couple of times, still had trouble believing it, but was professional enough to stop commenting about it. Just to look up at Mac with a frown. “Dalton?” she asked him, and when he nodded she took a breath for fortitude. “Okay people, we’ll start with the dog. Pete?” She didn’t say it, but she couldn’t help thinking it: she took this job to use her medical skills and for the research opportunities it offered, not to be a vet. Peter on the other hand, was the best vet she knew, and she was happy, pleased even, to step back and let him take over. Knowing she couldn’t help at this time, and would only be in the way, she turned and took Mac out of the way of the small med bay in the plane, over to a seating area, and sat him down to take some details from him. He didn’t like it, but had been in this situation too many times to argue with her about it. As he sat and listened to Sandy, he could feel the judder as the big plane took off and headed for home. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>By the time they had got back to USA airspace Jack had undergone surgery to get him out of danger, and had managed to wake up enough to transform back to his usual form. Now he was out cold, hooked up to several items, watched over by his younger partner. Dalton slept all the way through being transported off the plane, into an ambulance and into a private medical facility the Phoenix used on occasion, followed by Mac, and he was not really surprised to find Matty, Riley and Bozer waiting for them when they got there. </p>
<p>“He’ll be alright, Blondie,” Matty told him, a hand on his arm as they watched Jack get readied for full scans. </p>
<p>Mac watched his partner’s face for any signs of discomfort as he was manhandled, but he was still completely out of it and made no reaction. “I hate it when he gets hurt,” he told her quietly. “He always puts himself in the firing line first.”</p>
<p>Matty looked over at the man in question as well. “He hates it when you’re hurt too,” she reminded him. “He tore four people apart when he thought they had killed you, remember?”</p>
<p>Mac did and nodded, Jack still had nightmares about that one, not proud of his reaction. “Murdoc was going to kill him in front of me,” he told her, changing the subject. “He would have cut his throat if Jack hadn’t moved in time.”</p>
<p>Matty squeezed his arm when she felt him shudder beside her. “Then he’s a bigger fool than we thought he was if he thought Jack would let that happen,” she tried to reassure him. “I take it our big bad wolf paid him back for that?”</p>
<p>Mac huffed in some amusement, Jack got a kick out of whenever she called him that. “He certainly won’t be doing any embroidery any more,” he told her. “Not with the mess one swipe did to his hand.” They shared a satisfied look with each other before Mac turned back to his partner. </p>
<p>“Please be okay,” he murmured to himself. “Please be okay.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Twenty four hours later Mac found himself pacing the small room in Phoenix’s medical wing, chewing on a thumb nail. Jack still hadn’t woken, his temperature had steadily risen during the last day leading to another stint in surgery to clean out and debride both gunshot wounds and he was being loaded with antibiotics and painkillers. His surgeons and other medical staff were all positive, but Mac wasn’t going to be reassured until his partner woke up.  He'd tried persuasion, silly threats to shave off his eyebrows or scratch his car, read to him a manual about electronics, but now he was simply pacing in the hope that would stir some reaction from him. </p>
<p>He’d been joined by others, Riley, Bozer and Matty had spent time with him, all waiting for some reaction from Jack, even Jill wheeled herself into the room for a few minutes, just to make sure for herself that he was going to be okay. </p>
<p>It was just… Mac just wanted him to wake up and tell him to stop biting his nails, stop pacing grooves in the floor, just so he could believe his partner was actually going to be okay. However long it took, he was going to be there, pacing that room, until Jack finally decided to wake his ass up and tell him to go home. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>It took another four hours or so for the man in question to do exactly that: wake with a groan, blink a few times at Mac leaning over him, and croak at him to go home. </p>
<p>Mac smiled, and spooned some ice chips into his partner’s mouth. “Shut up and suck, Jack,” he told him, immensely relieved. He knew he was going to get some sarcastic comments on that one but he couldn’t be more pleased: Jack was awake, at last, rolling his eyes at him as he did what he was told, for once. Mac just watched him for a minute or two as the older man lubricated his throat, and then grinned when Jack managed to speak. </p>
<p>“You look like crap, Hoss,” he said quietly to him. </p>
<p>Mac laughed as he leant over to press the call button. “And you look like Bruce Willis after Die Hard 3,” he told him, amused. “Like you’ve gone twelve rounds with Mike Tyson and lost.” </p>
<p>Jack huffed a laugh. “You should see the other guys,” he retorted. </p>
<p>Mac’s grin turned fond. “I did,” he assured him. </p>
<p>Jack studied him for a few moments before he said something else. “Are you okay, Kid?’ he asked him, checking as much of him as he could for injuries. “Didn’t get hit?” </p>
<p>“I’m fine,” Mac told him truthfully. “I got checked out on the plane, and again when we got back here, as per your instructions.” </p>
<p>“Hell yeah,” he agreed, highly amused. </p>
<p>Before Mac could say anything else the door to the room opened and Jack’s Doctor tried to walk in in front of Matty, but didn’t win. Mattie stalked in and straight up to the bed with a smile on her face. “Took your time, Dalton,” </p>
<p>Mac looked at the clock on the wall. “Don’t you ever go home?” he asked her, giving Jack a few moments. “It’s after ten pm.” </p>
<p>She looked at him and shook her head. “Not when you two are here, you get in too much trouble without adult supervision.”</p>
<p>Jack huffed a laugh again. “The Doc’s here,” he retorted. “Is he supervising you, too?”</p>
<p>Mac quickly pressed his hand to his mouth in an attempt to hide his smirk, Doctor Singh, behind Matty, didn’t have too, grinned widely and nodded. </p>
<p>Matty herself didn’t look particularly amused but she was adept at hiding it. “I’ll let you have that one, Jack, since you’re high on morphine.”  </p>
<p>“Sweet,” he thanked her, then looked over her to his Doc. “Sukh, hey, nice to see you again. When can I go home?”</p>
<p>The doc, Sukhjit Singh walked round Matty and over to his patient. “Nice to see you again, Jack,” he greeted him and picked up the tablet at the foot of his bed, looking at the readouts on it. “If your stats stay like this, in a few days. And you’ll need someone to keep an eye on you too. I guess that’ll be you?” he asked, looking up at Mac. “It normally is.”</p>
<p>Mac nodded. “He might as well move into my house,” he said dryly. “The amount of time we have to look out for each other.”</p>
<p>“I’ll have the master bedroom,” Jack commented as he watched his doctor lift his blankets and check the dressings on his chest. “How does it look?” </p>
<p>“The dressings are clean, that’s a good sign,” Sukh told him. “They’ll need to be changed in about an hour so I can have a better look then. You’re fever’s gone down too, and your blood pressure is almost back to normal. It’s looking good,” he told him and recovered him with the blanket. “But not good enough to go home just yet,” he added, knowing what his patient was going to say when he opened his mouth. “Just lie back and take a load off for a while.” </p>
<p>“I guess,” the agent replied, not happy about it. </p>
<p>Sukh shrugged and and tapped his shoulder with two fingers. “There’s a simple solution. Stop getting shot and you won’t have to stay here,” he told him dryly. <br/>“That would mean people stopping shooting at us,” Mac replied as dryly. “We maybe in the wrong job for that.” </p>
<p>Sukh wasn’t particularly impressed, he had known both of them for a few years and was always dismayed when one or both of them ended up in his care. </p>
<p>Matty stepped in before he could say anything else though. “We got all the information you sent,” she told Jack, knowing Mac had already been debriefed. “It’s more than enough to damn the cartel. We’re also checking everything for chatter about Murdoc. Nothing yet.”</p>
<p>Jack grimaced. “I should have ripped his head off,” he conceded. “Rather than just his hand.” </p>
<p>Matty shrugged. “If he rears his head from whatever rock he’s hiding under, we’ll be there first,” she assured him. “If he didn’t bleed out of course. Don’t worry about it, Jack. He won’t be back in a hurry, if ever.”</p>
<p>The partners shared a look, neither of them believing it. “We’ll cross that bridge,” Mac said, mainly to assure himself and Jack. “You’re going to be okay, that’s what matters.” He squeezed his partner’s shoulder. “And I’ve got the Lord of the Rings trilogy, queued up and ready to go.”</p>
<p>Jack grinned at him. “Can’t wait.”</p>
<p>End</p>
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